OPEC+ is continuing to hold talks on 2024 oil policy, with no delay to a meeting scheduled for Thursday currently expected, two sources from the producer group said on Wednesday. On Tuesday, sources had said a further delay to the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia was possible amid talks which one of them described as tough as countries maintained their positions. “The negotiations are ongoing, but no delay is expected,” one of the sources said. The meeting has already been delayed from ...

U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories rose last week, as refiners ramped up output despite lackluster fuel demand, theEnergy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories rose by 1.6 million barrels in the week to Nov. 17 to449.7 million barrels, the EIA said, comparedwith analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 933,000-barrel drop. Crude stockpiles on the East Coast rose to 10.2 million barrels, their highest since January 2021, the data showed. Refinery crude runs rose by 518,000 barrels per day last week, while refinery utilization rates USOIRU=ECI ...

Malaysia’s state energy firm Petroliam Nasional Berhad, also known as Petronas, reported lower third-quarter profit on Wednesday, and said it expects profitability to besqueezed by volatile oil and gas prices. Volatility in prices were expected to be higher due to economic uncertainties and heightened concerns over global energy security amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, Petronas president and chief executive Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz said in a statement. “Against this backdrop, Petronas anticipates lower profits compared to last year,” he said, adding that the company will continue to ...

Asia’s middle distillates markets continued to record muted trading activity ahead of the year-end closing despite gains in jet fuel cracking margins and a stronger regrade premium from the previous session. Refining margins for 10 ppm sulphur gasoil were little changed on Wednesday, amid steady ICE gasoil futures. Discount levels in the physical spot market GO10-SIN-DIF were less severe, reflecting the slight improvement in the backwardated swap price structure between December and January. A persistent buy-sell gap hampered deals and capped serious negotiations for physical cargoes. Some India-based refiners are ...

Asia’s naphtha market gained on Wednesday after inventories in the Middle East declined to a three-week low and Panama Canal congestion led to lower flows of alternative feedstocks ethane and butane from the United States, traders said. The crack NAF-SIN-CRK jumped by about $8 to $54.57 per metric ton over Brent crude and the first-half January naphtha traded $11 higher than the following month in backwardation structure, LSEG data showed. Meanwhile, bad weather in the Black Sea has been affecting flows of cargoes from Russia to Asia, adding to the ...

Executive Summary Following the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Asian countries found themselves in direct competition with European buyers for limited global supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Prices of the fuel skyrocketed, and energy security became an urgent priority for countries around the region. South Korea has responded to the crisis by accelerating its push to build new LNG import terminals and storage facilities, aiming to bolster its ability to manage supply and demand in a highly volatile, post-invasion LNG environment. However, the Institute for ...

Middle Eastern benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban continued to fall on Wednesday amidst subdued spot trades, while the market waited for major oil producers to reach agreement on their output plan. Spot premium for Oman, a medium sour crude, flipped to a discount of 78 cents a barrel against the Dubai quotes, down from a premium of $1.05 in the prior day. Oman crude prices are typically volatile toward the end of the month due to low liquidity, as traders look to cover their outstanding position before the DME futures ...

Delegates from nearly 200 countries will convene this week for the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, where conference host and OPEC member the UAE hopes to sell the vision of a low-carbon future that includes, not shuns, fossil fuels. That narrative, also backed by other big oil producer nations, will throw the spotlight on international divisions at the summit over the best way to combat global warming: countries are split over whether to prioritize phasing out coal and oil and gas, or scale up technologies like carbon capture to scrub ...

U.S. natural gas futures edged up about 1% to a one-week high on Wednesday with the start of the new higher-priced January contract and forecasts for higher demand over the next two weeks than previously expected. The price increase came despite forecasts for less cold weather through mid December and near record output that should reduce the amount of gas utilities need to pull from storage to meet rising heating demand. Analysts forecast the amount of gas in U.S. storage was about 8% above normal on Nov. 24. On its ...

Dutch and British gas prices were stable on Wednesday morning as high storage levels helped offset strong demand for gas for heating amid cool temperatures. The Dutch December contract slipped by 0.15 euro to 42.90 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0926 GMT, LSEG data showed. The Dutch January contract was down by 0.03 euros at 43.97 euros/MWh. The British day-ahead contract edged up by 0.6 pence at 112 p/therm. “The latest long-term weather forecast predicts lower temperatures than expected from mid-December until mid-January 2024,” LSEG analyst Tomasz Marcin Kowalski ...

The European Commission has maintained a proposed pipeline connecting the gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean to Greece via Cyprus and Crete on its new list of Projects of Common Interest (PCI) published on Tuesday. Projects included in the PCI list have access to a fast-track permitting process and special funding. Energy group Edison EDNn.MI and Greece’s DEPA International Projects are the sponsors of the project through their joint venture IGI Poseidon. The joint venture has still to take a final investment decision (FID) on the pipeline, which would connect ...

The Biden administration on Tuesday will auction off 35,000 acres (14,164 hectares) of land in Wyoming to oil and gas drillers, the first in a series of such sales that will coincide with a United Nations’ conference aimed at combating fossil fuel-driven climate change in Dubai. The Interior Department’s U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will offer 63 drilling parcels on nearly 44,000 acres (17,806 hectares) in six Western states over the next two weeks. The Wyoming sale is by far the largest, with 37 parcels. The remaining acreage, in ...

COP28 host the United Arab Emirates planned to discuss possible natural gas and other commercial deals ahead of U.N. climate talks that begin this week, an investigation by the BBC and the Centre for Climate Reporting (CCR) said on Monday. The climate summit will be the first global assessment of progress since the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015, which set a goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), while aiming for a cap of 1.5C. Climate scientists have said achieving that goal depends ...

Currently on target to reach a record-breaking 230 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar installations this year, China leads the global renewables market. This is more than double the number of US and Europe installations combined, according to latest report ‘How China became the global renewables leader’ by Wood Mackenzie. Wind and solar project investment for China is expected to reach US$140 billion for 2023, according to the report’s findings. Alex Whitworth, Vice President, Head of Asia Pacific Power and Renewables research at Wood Mackenzie, said: “China announced its 2060 ...

Oil prices rose on Wednesday as investors turned their attention to an OPEC+ meeting to decide on output policy, while supply disruption caused by a storm in the Black Sea and lower U.S. inventories drove buying. futures climbed 86 cents, or 1.1%, to $82.54 a barrel at 1031 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 93 cents, or 1.2%, at $77.34 a barrel. Both benchmarks gained about 2% on Tuesday as the market anticipated the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia (OPEC+), will ...